Good evening. It is 6:31 p.m. and I'd like to call to order the May 7, 2026 South Orange Maplewood Board of Education. Mr. Carrig, would you please call the roll?
Yes. Board member Jeff Bennett. Board member Tirzah Brown. Here. Board member Elizabeth Callahan. Here. Board member Meredith Higgins. Here. Board member Bimal Kapadia. Board president Will Meyer. Here. Board member Melanie Nia. Here.
Board member Shayna Sackett Gable. Here. Board member Paul Stauffer. Here. We have a quorum. Please stand if you are able for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please note that adequate notice of this meeting was sent in January 2026 in the office of the secretary of the board to the Maplewood and South Orange Township clerks and the editors of the News-Record, Star-Ledger, Tap Into SOMA,
and The Village Green. Uh we'll now move into executive session as permitted under the Open Public Meetings Act to discuss personnel, legal, and miscellaneous confidential matters. The session is expected to last approximately 75 minutes, though it could be sooner. No formal action will be taken. I will entertain a motion.
Board member Sackett Gable and then a second, board member Stauffer. All in favor, show of hands. It's unanimous. We will now move into executive session at 6:33 p.m. We will be returning to public session and any action resulting from our discussions will be taken in public session.
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>> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Good evening. I like to call this meeting back to order at 7:37 p.m. The board is now back in public session and thank you for joining us tonight. Uh this meeting
uh central purpose is for formal action on the reappointment of staff as well as uh it had been advertised as a reorganizational meeting. Now the reorganizational part, which is a resolution where we formally reappoint staff and uh
uh reappoint certain uh vendors, we're going to push off to a subsequent meeting because we are in the bid process right now for a few vendors and it is in our best interest to just uh give that a moment more. However, what we are doing this evening is handling uh
renewals. So, in our agenda tonight, we have uh two lists of staff uh and we have uh a lot of >> [snorts] >> very valued names that everyone knows in our community and it is very exciting to get to take a vote uh to have those
folks back another year. But, uh certainly from my inbox uh the the bigger piece hanging over this meeting uh is those folks who are not on that list uh and that's a frustrating piece uh for a lot of folks and that is so
something that happens with uh the district every year is that some folks don't come back and there's a lot of concern that that happens around that. And uh I thought it was important as we start off this meeting just to understand the ground rules around how this process works. We have emails
saying uh Board of Education, can you please help us XYZ? Can you save this person? Can you do that? There are some things the Board of Education has the ability to do and there are some things that we do not. Uh and uh so I'd like to have our Board Counsel,
uh Mr. Carrick, uh take a minute just to remind the Board as well as the community of what our posture is at this meeting as we look at renewals and uh by contrast the non-renewals and and how we
uh act with those and when a position is removed as in Mr. Bing's email today, uh we've heard of positions that have been eliminated, uh what happens with those remaining staff members. So, Mr. Carrick, would you Sure, I'll I'll do my best. So, um the meeting you have tonight has is a
your renewal meeting for for staff. On the agenda are the uh non-tenured employees that have received the recommendation of the superintendent for renewal. Uh and those ones you're voting on for renewal. There is also tenured employees on there. Tenured employees maintain
their positions uh essentially period as long as they're um uh working uh in in good faith and and continuing. Um those are a foregone conclusion that they'll be renewed. With respect to names that don't appear on the agenda, that means that those uh
persons have been informed that they are not being recommended for renewal, uh whether it's based on reasons of performance or reasons of economy. Could be both budgetary constraints as well. And so they don't appear on the agenda at all. They do not get a vote. So, in
essence, the Board is powerless tonight to vote on those people or take any action with respect to those people. There's no ability of a board member to say, I move to uh add this person and rehire that person because that is not a
statutory ability of the Board of Education. Um all hiring has to come through the superintendent. Um, all that can happen after this meeting is those individuals that were informed that they would not be recommended for renewal, they can seek a statement of
reasons um from the district to find out why they were not recommended for renewal, and if they so choose, they can go a step further, which is to have a Donaldson hearing, and a Donaldson hearing is their opportunity to try to explain to the Board of Education why they believe that they should still be
renewed. And that is the very limited role that the board has to um essentially overrule a decision of the chief school administrator. Uh, that doesn't happen tonight. It'll happen after the that first thing, the statement of reasons is requested, and
then the second thing, the Donaldson hearing is requested, and then it gets scheduled. So, um you know, unfortunately, the reality is that the board is powerless with respect to non-renewals tonight. And with regard to situations where
because of a budgetary decision, a position uh has been removed, but uh the person that actually winds up leaving the district is is sitting in a similar position somewhere else. Can you explain why that happens? Sure. So,
um employees in a in a school district have tenure, and that means that they maintain their jobs pretty much period. Um, there are times when in evaluating um the budget and the needs of a district, you'll determine that um
we don't need a position, or unfortunately, the budget won't allow for a position, and then in that respect, that position is eliminated. That position that's eliminated, however, may be a position that's currently occupied by a tenured
individual. So, then what you do is you look at that tenured individual and the certifications that that possess, and they then have what are called bumping rights to bump non-tenured or less senior people out of other positions.
And so, if there's a position in one building that the determination is made that that's going to be eliminated by way of reduction in force, that doesn't mean that the person currently occupying it is no longer going to work in South Orange Maplewood. If they have tenure
and an equivalent position under their certification exists that's occupied by a non-tenured person, they're going to bump that non-tenured person out, take that position over there. And so, that's a process and it's it's complicated. I
will tell you it is. Um uh and it can result in people teaching in positions that they have not taught before because they have certifications that would allow them to teach in those positions. Um it's really just an identification of resources, what you
need, priority out uh allocation, and then going through this system of bumping uh as necessary. And so, that bumping you mentioned is based on seniority. So, generally speaking, does the district have a choice in who it is who is uh pulling
that short straw or is it based upon that formula? If you're tenured, you have bumping rights to a position over all non-tenured people. So, the you can't say, "Well, I really like a non-tenured
person. I want to keep them there if and then eliminate some other tenured person." So, bumping rights um are based on seniority, but you're really only looking to that when you might have to actually bump another tenured person, which is infrequent and
I I don't think it happens all that often. Okay, thank you. I appreciate it. Uh and with that, I'm going to turn uh the floor to Superintendent Bing uh, to discuss where we are at this point from a uh, personnel post budget perspective.
Thank you, Board President Meyer. Uh, so since uh, September 2024, we have worked thoughtfully and intentionally to shield students and classrooms from the impact of the anticipated statewide fiscal cliff.
Recognizing early on the potential uh, financial challenges ahead, we took proactive steps to absorb budget short shortfalls internally rather than passing those impacts on the students, families, or instructional programs. Uh, pattern that ran probably for over 10 years in this
district that has now uh, reduced uh, what we like to call savings uh, district-wide. Uh, so to preserve the integrity of the classroom experience, uh, we we did make the strategic decision to prioritize staffing.
Attrition as a primary cost-savings measure. Uh, this meant carefully evaluating all vacancies resulting from retirements and resignations, and where feasible, leaving those positions unfilled or maximizing the use of internal transfers,
aligning existing staff to areas of greatest need rather than relying on external hiring. Uh, if I'm uh, reflecting on last year's budget, uh, we were able to transfer anywhere from around 20 to 30 staff members to avoid external hiring
that would have cost the district anywhere from 3.5 to 5 million dollars. Through these combined efforts, we were able to avoid monetary obligations and payroll while maintaining continuity and instruction and support for students. Uh, these decisions were guided by a clear priority, keeping resources as close to
the classroom as possible while maintaining fiscal responsibility. Looking ahead to upcoming budget cycles, we find ourselves at a difficult crossroads. Uh as noted for many years, uh we've relied on short-term fixes and emergency
funds to keep things running smoothly, but we have reached our limit of what those reserves can do. Um this year we were able to uh engage in a health care waiver of around uh $5 million. That is
That is a one-time waiver that will not be available uh for the '27 '28 budget. Um for a multitude of years before that, the district would simply dip into its savings um
to balance the budget. Um avoiding very difficult conversations and challenging conversations. Um we're at the point right now where we can't avoid those conversations and really need to face them head-on. Uh
we recently sent out a a uh memo to our to our families and also as part of our budget presentation on May 4th, um we had a total reduction count of 22 positions. Uh we were able to mitigate those efforts
really through careful planning, transfers, things of that nature down uh for 14 of those roles, uh leaving um eight positions uh that are now
rifts. Two of those are are uh at the central office level, uh leaving six staff members district-wide. Uh we know that the numbers don't take away from the very real anxiety that these changes create and will create over the
next 2 years. Um this is especially true as we look, as I noted, towards the future um where if you recall in our budget presentation uh this week, uh currently we're projecting around an $8 million gap
uh, for the 2027-2028 budget. Um, none of this could have been None of these huge challenges could have been mitigated as much as they have been without a lot of collaborative work,
uh, not only from senior leadership team, but our Sumeia, our Aska, um, and our community members. This is not something that could be done individually. It is something that's done collectively. Um, and we are trying to do it with
compassion and care, especially over the next year or two as we move forward. Um, so I do want to make sure that everyone who worked on these huge challenges understand how we how much we value your contribute contributions. Um, and our priority is going to remain
on focusing, uh, these transitions over the next year or two with respect, with care, with transparency. Um, we will be starting on our 2027-2028 budget, uh, come June, um, because we are expecting a
complicating process moving forward. Uh, we'll be as transparent as possible around that. Um, there are many factors that have impacted this. We've gone over those factors. You have read in headlines across this state in regards
to what other districts are going through, whether it's, uh, the high cost of health insurance, the high cost of utilities, um, the inadequate state funding formula. Um, there are a variety of reasons, um, for districts now
being placed, uh, in this situation. So, one of the things we will be doing moving forward is providing our community members, our staff with avenues to advocate. Um, we've been advocating now for about a year and a half here, going down to Trenton, working
uh, with our assembly people, our senators um around this issue of funding. Um we are hoping that um a new governor will intentionally address this issue
as she moves into her tenure um because at this point school districts across the state, including South Orange-Maplewood School District uh will not be able to sustain programming and staffing as it is currently. Um so we do look forward to those
conversations with folks that we hope will be able to make a difference moving forward um at the state level. Uh we recognize that none of these decisions are easy. Uh they are being made though with the idea of long-term stability
uh for our children and the continuity of the South Orange-Maplewood School District in mind so we can continue to provide the high level of education uh and the supportive learning environment for every student we serve. Thank you, sir.
We're going to move on now to our first hearing of individuals and delegations. Uh so thank you for coming this evening uh in person as well as joining us online this evening. We value public comment at all of our board meetings and while we cannot engage in a dialogue
with you, we take your comments very seriously and your input will inform our work. Our comment period is limited to 1 hour. Each speaker will have 3 minutes. We ask that you please begin by stating your name as well as your town.
Uh Mhm? And our first public speaker will be Frank Sanchez. Good evening. Um, Frank Sanchez, principal of Columbia High School. I guess we could use 17 Parker Avenue for the address. Uh, I sit here as not just principal of
Columbia High School, but as someone who's had the privilege of working closely with the athletic director whose leadership has too often been discussed without the full acknowledgement of the courage, integrity, and pro- progress she has brought to our school community. Leadership is rarely tested when
decisions are easy. True leadership reveals itself when you disrupt the status quo. When you make decisions that are difficult, when the responsibility to do what is right outweighs the desire to do what is popular, and that is exactly what I was looking for in our new
athletic department and what we found with Jacqueline Winstead. She's made brave decisions, decisions grounded in fairness and accountability, student safety, long-term health of our athletic programs. These decisions have not always pleased everyone, but meaningful
change rarely does. Leadership cannot be measured by the volume of applause in comfortable moments. It must be measured when the work is hard and scrutiny is intense. Over the course of [snorts] her tenure, we've seen improvements in organization, Title IX compliance, expectations for
our programs, the amount of students that we have seen in the media program that she has created, the student photographers. Coaches have been held to higher standards. Changes have been made with our coaches. Systems that once depended on habit and inconsistency or
parental um, boosters have become more transparent and more structured. One of the coaches that I just met a few years ago, one of the first things he said to me about Coach Winstead was he couldn't believe how unfair it was that his boys couldn't practice on the turf because one of the girls teams
had the audacity to play a game there. Those are the changes that have been made under Coach Winstead's leadership. Now, of course, there are things that we can do better. I mean, we could continue to make improvements next year. We know better communication will be one of our top priorities. I look forward to
working with coach Winstead and the committee of parents, coaches, students, and community members on a new uh committee that will be designed to improve our athletic program, to make the athletic program the best in the county, just like we have the best arts program, and one of the most robust AP
programs in the county. It's important though to recognize the human cost of public criticism. No administrator, coach, teacher, or staff member should be expected to carry the weight of relentless um attacks while continuing to serve students with dignity, but that's what
she's done. Working at Soma is not easy. It sometimes I compare it to try and drink a to have a drink of water from a fire hose. Things come fast and they come hard. But I ask the community and this board to judge leadership not by whether controversy
exist, but by whether the person at the center of it has acted with integrity, purpose, and sincere commitment to our students. I believe she firmly has. That's what I need in a partner at Columbia High School to make sure that we improve this athletic program, and I
know we have that, and I really I would appreciate the support for coach Winstead. Thank you. Thank you. Our next public speaker will be David Bernstein. Uh thanks. Appreciate it. Um good evening. My name is David
Bernstein, and I live in West Orange. Um, I wouldn't expect any district to know how its contract rates compare across 600 other school districts in the state. That data just doesn't exist in one place, and that's why I started collecting them at
pricereflect.com. And I wanted to bring one particular contract to your attention. Um, last school year on June 26th, 2025, uh, the board authorized a provider for
behavior therapy services at rates up to $320 an hour. The same provider charges Scotch Plains-Fanwood 130. Thank you. And next public speaker will be Steve Reichenstein.
Is this better? Okay, thank you. Um, I spoke before you during the the last board meeting. I just want to recap what I said. Um, I'm an alumni, so I know what it's like to be a student athlete, and also I am a teacher, and I am the coach, head coach for the
tennis teams, and second coach for the robotics teams, which just competed in the world. First time in 10 years. And it's just been an amazing experience, and in my eight years of coaching, nine
years of teaching here, four athletic directors, and you know there's been a lot of turnover in overall administration. And some of them have been terrific, but it's a lot, and um, but she has been there for every step of it. She came in from day one. We didn't have courts for the girls tennis team as of the as of then out the
week before Labor Day, and she just we got courts. We found a way to get quartz and do that and have a successful season. Uh we also were able to when when UTR wasn't being reported for Juan Lee winning and beating the kid who became first seed in the state tournament. And
he beat him and it's not even reported. She took on the conference to say, "You got to do that." And it's a year but it's a work and now they've agreed to start using UTR. They didn't want to go retro. But you have to go retro. You owe this. And she's continuing the fight. We've done the history to find out when
they have to go back to and she's going back to do it again. These are things that are really important. But um Well, so the tennis team I got to say we made it to the states each of the last 2 years. Lost to Westfield boys. Westfield still girls this year going to win.
Uh we're eight and three this year for the boys. Um we are we went to the semis just lost to Newark Academy in the um in the counties but we are in semi-finals. We're moving forward. But the important thing too is that we're getting the support that we need. We know there's some communication issues. I volunteered
to be on the committee. I know the tennis parents are supporting it completely. Um but also before having been teaching and coaching I I was in business 30 years. I serve on condo boards and I've had my own businesses. I I have a patent now on an energy storage process. I
sponsor a cornerstone project for senior mechanical engineering students at Syracuse University. I'm going to try to bring that program here. And uh because you could we can do it as well as they do. Uh I just filed another patent which I'm going to give you give you a chance to bring forward and to commercialize. So I
have a sense of the business side of what you're doing and I know from my business experience the hardest and most expensive thing in dollars and delay in getting things moving forward is onboarding new people. And I'd rather not have to onboard another person.
Um and I've also learned that it's not it's important to not let the perfect get in the way of the good. And we've got someone really good. Be still. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you. Thanks, sir. Uh our next public speaks is online. Uh
we have, I believe it's a student, Mariana S. >> [clears throat] >> And Mariana, you should be able to unmute yourself now. Do we know she's available? I see her on screen here. She is available. All right, Mariana, if you can hear us,
you can go ahead and unmute uh and speak to us. We'll give it just a minute cuz this is our last public speaks before our vote. No, I don't think we can unmute. Uh Do we have any
more information, Mr. Burns? Available, just not unmuting. Okay. Yeah, there is uh there is a phone number on the website. I think you can dial in that way. We have a minute here. I want to just take another minute in case uh you want to join. >> Okay, [snorts] well, I'll start to move
forward toward the action portion of the meeting. If she does pop up in the next few seconds, would you let me know? All right, very good. Uh, that will otherwise conclude our first, uh, hearing of individuals and delegations for this evening. And we will now move on to the action portion
of the meeting. Uh, tonight on the agenda, we have, uh, three resolutions. Uh, resolution 4966 for reappointment of non-tenured staff for the 26-27 school year. Resolution 4967,
uh, to approve reappointment of all other staff for the 26-27 school year. Uh, and resolution, uh, 4968 uh, to approve, uh, two different, uh, miscellaneous resolutions. So, I'm going to propose we
first take on together resolutions 4966 and 4967. Uh, do I have a motion? Board member Brown, do I have a second? Board member Callahan. Uh, this is a personnel motion, so there really is no discussion permitted, but is there anyone trying to squeeze
something in? There is not. Therefore, Mr. Carrick, would you kindly call the roll? Yes, I will. Board member Brown. Yes. Board member Callahan. Yes. Board member Higgins. Yes. Board member Kapadia. Yes. Board
President Meyer. Yes. Board member Nair. Yes. Board member Sackett-Gable. Yes. Board member Stefan. Yes. Motion passes. Okay, thank you. We'll move on to resolution 4968 which is to renew our contract for a
therapeutic mental health wraparound program and rates for summer school. Do I have a motion? Board member Sack Gable, do I have a second? Board member Stefan, open for discussion. Board member Callahan. I did want to briefly acknowledge the
first part of the resolution 4968A. This will renew our partnership with effective school solutions and I just wanted to take a moment to recognize the important support this program provides to our students and families. We have I-Step at our middle schools. We have ESS wraparound at Columbia High School where students have access to
school-based mental health services and therapeutic supports. These help them remain connected, supported and successful in their school communities. I think it's apropos that we happen to be renewing this contract as we are also recognizing mental health awareness month this May. And so I just want to extend my gratitude to the collaborative
work of our district staff, those clinicians, our educators and families in our support of the whole child and ensuring that wellness remains a priority. Any further discussion? >> [clears throat] >> Board member Brown. I just have a question.
Is your mic working? It's not lighting up. Do you want to lean over? Okay. Um so is this are are these basically is this a contract for consultants that are in the high school or what is this?
Yeah, ESS is a contracted service. And I think I looked briefly comparing to our last year's reorg looks like the costs have gone up perhaps 2%. They've held pretty steady. Any other discussion here?
All right, Mr. Carey, would you please call the roll for 4968? Board member Stefan? Yes. Board member Sak Gable? Yes. Board member Nair? Yes. Board President Meyer?
Yes. Board member Kapadia? Yes. Board member Higgins? Yes. Board member Callahan? Yes. Board member Brown? Board member Bennett? Yes. Motion passes. And lastly, we'll take up hand carry
resolution 4969, which is the approval of a separation agreement for employee ID 2439. Do I have a motion? Board member Callahan, do I have a second? Board member Sak Gable. Again, this is not really one we can
have much discussion. Is there anything offered? No, okay. Let's move right on to the roll call then. Board member Bennett? Yes. Board member Brown? Board member Callahan? Yes. Board member Higgins? Yes. Board member Kapadia? Yes. Board President
Meyer? Yes. Board member Nair? Yes. Board member Sak Gable? Yes. Board member Stefan? Yes. Motion passes. Very good, and that concludes the action portion of the meeting. We'll next move to our second hearing of individuals and delegations.
Do we have any additional public speak sign-ups in the back? No, looks like we do not. I'm just going to take a quick look online again. It looks like we do not have anyone additional. So, that is going to conclude our second
hearing of individuals and delegations. Is there any new business this evening? Hearing none. The board will next meet in public session on Thursday, May 21st at 2026 for 6:30 p.m. for our monthly board meeting.
And we'll meet on Thursday, May 28th, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. for a board retreat followed by an executive session to discuss the chief school administrator evaluation. Uh and as a reminder, the last strategic planning session is happening on May 11. Uh everyone in the
school district community should have received an email on this. Uh we've converted this to a an open call. It is happening at the CHS library, the entrance on Academy Street. Uh it is going to be uh limited by capacity, but you are free to come down
and uh try your odds. We'd love to have you there. Uh and with that, I'd welcome a motion to adjourn. Ordered a second, Gable. Second, board member Gupte. Uh all in favor, show of hands. It is unanimous. Uh this meeting concludes uh and is adjourned at 8:08
p.m. Thanks, everyone.